Betwixt and Between
by Kerridwyn
Summary: When Selene picks up the locket, she has no idea that it would suck her halfway around the world, or that she would land in a Dragon Reservation, litterally in Charlie Weasly's lap...But when poacher threaten the sanctuary will she be able to help?
1. Chapter 1

(A/N) - Okay, so the idea for this has been floating around in my brain for a while now, and (due to my deep seated fear of actually finishing anything) instead of wrapping up By Fire, By Moonlight like a sensible person, I've decided to start this one, so; enjoy!!!

DISCLAIMER : Sigh...no, you idiots, I don't own these either, I've only borrowed them from J.K. so I could twist them to fit my own strange imaginings...

PROLOGUE

Once upon a time...

That's how these things always start, all the faery tales you hear when you're little. And it's the propper place for them to start; the moment you hear those words, once upon a time, you know that you're about to be transported to a time other than your own, you're about to be transported someplace _else_...

So...

Once upon a time. There was a little girl who wished more than anything else that she could be anywhere else in all the wide world than where she was right then. In fact, if she had any say in the matter, she wished she could be transported to whole other worlds, but she'd settle for somewhere-anywhere!-else, somewhere where she could find great adventures and friendships like the ones she read about in her books. It occured to her that like talking Dragons, and knights with armor that outshone the sun, such things might exist only in books, but that didn't stop her from wishing all the same. She would peer down rabbit holes, and always tapped very carefully at the back of every closet, and she would wish on everything and anything.

As she grew older she visited some of the places she'd read about-they were quite tame now-and Selene began to realize that if she wanted adventure she would have to look very carefully or she might just miss her chance at it...

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_Selene Speaks_:

I've always been aware of the otherworld, the spirits and shades that lie in the corners of our world, the little things only glimpsed through the corner of your eyes; gone the moment you turn your head for a closer look. I've seen the faery and stranger things that we only spy when we're not really paying attention, here one moment and gone the next, evanescenced back into the twilight gloom. I could always find them. When I was little I thought that it was the huge excess of imagination that I was carrying around inside me, I thought that somehow it was leaking out into the real world...

Oh- and the gargoyles...let's not forget them. I've seen them, sitting up high, pretending to be stone, really just having long conversations with the pidgeons and crows, that sly look that freezes mid-wink when they realize I'm watching.

But the trouble with magick is that there's just too much it can't fix. When things go wrong, glimpsing gargoyles, and faeries and talking with trees doesn't really help much. The useful magick's never at hand when you need it. Three wishes from a genie in a bottle, a magick wand, a potion to cure anything and everything, seven league boots and invisibility cloaks to hide it all in. No, those things stay in the stories, while out here in the real world we're left to muddle along as best we can...


	2. Introductions

(A/N) -Just f.y.i the whole idea for this little dealy came from my best friend Kryss, who, in one of her many rants, wondered what would happen if H.P.'s form of magic crashed into the religious kind, (i.e. Pagan, etc...)? Would the two worlds see eye to eye, or rub each other the wrong way? 'Nyways, here it is, I hope you enjoy it. (Review, review! Review your hearts out!!! Muahahaha!!!)

**DISCLAIMER**: How do you say "I don't own this" in French?

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Papers were sorted into five piles of varying heights on Charlie Weasly's desk; _fix-it-now_, _this-can-wait_, _taken-care-of_, _too-depressing-to-contemplate_, and _don't-make-me-laugh_. Another pile, recently delivered, waited on a chair nearby-_To-be-sorted_. That one was twice as tall as the rest. He glared at it sourly. If he had been better at wandless magick the whole stack would have ignited, but he wasn't so it didn't, and that meant he would have to do something about it...

Since just after dawn he'd been _doing something_ about the state that the reservation was in, and he'd damned well had enough-and his aching muscles as he levered himself out of his chair wholeheartedly agreed. He'd been recouperating from a training accident with one of the Horntails for almost a month now, and he was sick of paperwork. If he had to so much as look at another report he'd hang himself on the spot.

He sighed, "Too young to shove this one someone elses shoulders, too old to shrug off healers' orders like a new trainee..."

When he thought about it logically, he had to admit that the healers did have a good point. He'd been lucky to survive the accident, and he was in better shape than he had any right to be, but some things were still beyond him. He reached for a new quill and flinched as strained muscled pulled the wrong way. He'd torn tendons in his back and shoulders, and even as he was being admitted to St. Mungo's critical care ward he'd know that when all was said and done he was going to have some very interesting scars to show for his trouble. The healers told him that the limp would most likely be permenant too, though it would be slight.

Shrugging it off, he walked towards the doors as a spectacular sunset drew him towards the balcony. The sky had been wrapped in a muggy haze all day, and now a yellowish glow seeped through the trees, etched black against the lightening sky. He expected the brassy brightness to intensify to orange and red, but the heavens surprised him; delicate pink washed over the clouds, followed by light purples and violet, veined with gold like some exotic marble ceiling. With the first star a breeze blew up, taking the fog with it and leaving the sky alive with pin pricks of light. Somewhere off in the distance he could hear one of the Ridgebacks calling to her hatchlings.

Caught outside without a coat, he shivered. He really ought to get back to work. The accounts still needed to be balanced, he'd put it off for long enough, and Bill was off doing some top secret something or other for Gringots, so there would be no help from that corner. Still, it did need doing, he'd have to finish it by the time Gina sent him the bill from the feed store-it was amazing how many tons of feed seven baby dragons could chew through in a month...

He sighed, another hour or so wouldn't do too much harm, and a walk might clear his head...

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Selene laughed, the wind snatching the sound away in an instant. Her strawberry blonde hair was plastered to her face, and flew out behind her in tangled streams. The big bay gelding beneath her stretched out, reaching for more distance with each stride, his hooves pounding on the dusty earth. The dirt road in front of her seemed to stretch on into eternity, endless as the sky. She gave herself a mental shake, and reminded herself that she was out here for a reason.

As they ran, Selene kept a sharp eye on the fence running along side them, watchful for holes or downed posts. She'd been finding the Henderson's cattle on her land in the last few weeks, and had put off checking the fences long enough. Finding that bull in the garage next to the truck that morning had been the last straw...

Ruckus cantered on beneath her, completely oblivious to the purpose of their little outing, he was simply glad to be out and running again.

By the time the sun had wound its way half way across the sky, they had made a complete circut of the property, and Selene had carefully marked down the two downed fences she'd found. She was in no hurry to get home to an empty house, and a pile of paperwork that had her name on it, so she took the long way back instead of cutting straight across the fields. The late summer sun light was warm on her skin as she guided Ruckus through the tall grass.

They stopped beneath the shade of a gigantic oak tree that stood at the center of the property, and she pulled Ruckus' saddle off to let him rest. She'd packed a simple lunch, tea, apples and a ham an cheese sandwich, with carrots for Ruckus.

She sighed, enjoying her tea. It was so...peaceful. So easy to loose herself out here, to forget the problems waiting at home on her desk, to loose her worries-even if only for a moment-in the sun and the wind.

An hour passed, she dozed against the trunk of the oak, relaxing peacefully in the hazy state between sleep and wakefulness. Selene woke with her head pillowed on her arm, curled at under the shade of the oak, the sun sinking into the horizon. At some point when she slept, her little terrier, spec, had joined her, and was now finishing off the last of her sandwich. She stretched, yawing widely, and arching her back until something popped and she felt marginally better.

She'd playied hookie for long enough; time to get back to work.

She was just about to whistle for Ruckus when something caught her eye.

Something a few yards off was glinting in the sun, little flashes of light. Shrugging, she went to investigate.

She prodded at it with the toe of her boot, unsure of what to make of such a find. Spec sniffed at it curiously, then, on realizing that it wasn't edible, proceeded to turn his attention to more worth while things. He trotted off into the trees, on some canine errand that Selene could only guess at. Glancing over her shoulder, she could see Ruckus, his tail swishing at flies every so often, still grazing peacefully where she'd left him. He snorted periodically, as if to express her impatience at his mistress. It was a tiny thing really, no larger than her own thumbnail, a ball of silver worked in the shape of a thorn apple, on a thin chain. It was only by chance that she'd noticed it at all.

Selene shrugged, then bent to retrive the small charm, brushing off who knew how many years of dust and weathering. Whoever it belonged to was long gone by now. Since Sara died last april, she was the only human for at least a hundred miles.

As her fingers brushed over the tarnished silver, a curious buzzing filled her head. Selene ignored it, but what followed was impossible to ignore.

It was the strangest sensation, something akin to being dragged backwards through a straw by her navel...

That wasn't right..

_Shit! This is gonna be so bad..._ That last though turned out to be prophetic.

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(A/N) - So, that was it. Kinda short, I know, but the next chapter will be longer. Please review, tell me what you think; hate it? Love it? This is my first H.P. fic so please bear with me...


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